Blocking off passenger door

[cdoaks]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking about converting a short bus in the near future. I'm a bit concerned square footage wise and was wondering if anyone has ever blocked off the passenger door and front stairwell area to make for more living space? Assuming of course that the bus came with a rear emergency exit door.

Just wondering as I'd never seen this done and couldn't find and threads on here about this. Would this be legal? I can see it maybe being a fire hazard or registration/inspection issue? I live in California if that matters at all.

Many thanks everyone!

[Mark_In_MA]

I'm not sure if its illegal, but I'd find it highly impractical. The rear door would be way too short for me for normal use. On top of that, there's no stairs at the rear - how do you plan on getting in and out? A ladder doesn't sound like a great permanent solution, and you'd have to find room to stash a set of stairs.

It also changes your floor plan a bit - if you need the back door, then you can't have anything across the full width of the bus. A lot of people like to put the bed that way to save some space on their floor layout.


A few people on here have moved the stairs from the front of the bus to the middle - I think the Busted Flush in the short bus section is one of the most recent ones to do so.

[cdoaks]

I'm thinking the layout and rear entry + ladder would look very similar to this womans:

https://youtu.be/Z-pfiygpthQ?t=381

She also mentions using the stairwell as a shower but didn't specify further about how shed construct it. Seems like a good idea since 2 entrance areas taking up SF seems less than ideal. Just wondering if blocking the stairwell with a permanent shower basin would be possible/legal assuming the drivers view isn't obstructed at all?